Children of 9/11: Mother sees lesson on post-9/11 unity

Sep. 11, 2011

Abigail Johnson of Essex was born just six days after the worst terrorist attack in America, September 11th, 2001. As Abigail approaches her 10th birthday, the horrors of that day that have left both physical and emotion scars for many are a merely a faint echo for many of her generation. / RYAN MERCER, Free Press

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Deborah Johnson was seven days away from the due date for her third child when the telephone rang on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. It was her sister calling, telling her to turn on the television set. Johnson soon found herself watching the horrifying footage of the Twin Towers in New York City billowing black smoke and collapsing. The news was difficult for many Americans to fathom: Four planes had been hijacked by Islamist terrorists who piloted a plane into each tower, another into the Pentagon and crashed the fourth in a Pennsylvania field.

Johnson remembers the shock and sense of unknown that morning — were the attacks over, were more to come? The intensity of feeling was such that she wondered if her labor might start a little early. The attack on U.S. shores was a first for her generation and she remembers thinking: "It's not supposed to happen to us."

The Essex mother reflected on the sobering fact that she was preparing to give life as the attacks ended lives. "I was about to have a life born," said Johnson, "and seeing all those lives that were taken."

Abigail Johnson was born safely to Deborah and her husband Ron Johnson Sept. 17, one day early. Johnson recalls a feeling of not wanting to let go of the new baby. "It was just a sense of relief that she was safe in my arms, hoping I could keep her that way but knowing what had just happened, honestly knowing you could never know."

Today Abigail is a happy fourth-grader who will celebrate her 10th birthday with friends, family and an ice cream cake. She likes softball, soccer and wants to be a first-grade teacher someday. She knows a little about 9/11 but doesn't think about it in connection with her birthday. "My dad told me just a couple of days ago, a short story on it," Abigail explained.

Her mother has talked about it as well. Deborah Johnson teaches her children, ages 9, 12 and 16, that one of the lessons from the attacks is to reach out. "If you join together, you can get through any situation, if you are willing to work together and be strong together just like the U.S. did," she said. "We were one family after this."

Abigail has never seen the footage of the Twin Towers collapsing, her mother said. Deborah Johnson believes it's too graphic for Abigail at this point. "Knowing there were people in those buildings," she said, "every time you see it, your heart breaks."